I bought this game because I played a much older one in high school by the "parent company" or developer of a similar title called "System Shock 2." That game was a crazy RPG/FPS/Adventure/Horror game that had mediocre graphics but the best voice acting I'd ever heard before. I decided to give this one a shot to see bits and pieces of the story and to see how much they retained of the Biblical references from its predecessor.
I played it for around 4 hours before dawn today with my headphones on and it really disappointed me. First of all, while "System Shock 2" had some really fun and engaging gameplay at the time for a FPS this game you swap from your left and right hands. Your right hand carries a gun or wrench (they kept that from the previous game) and your left hand casts spells and stuff. Basically the story behind the world is almost identical: through the marvel or tampering with the human genome you can "unlock" all these supernatural, almost magical powers and upgrade or "level up" your FPS character.
The Biblical stuff is still there. Instead of the starship "Von Braun," you're in this underwater city called "Rapture." The old system of cyber modules was replaced by harvesting or amuputating these wierd little girls called "sisters" and obtaining "Adam,"--or, I guess, genome currency--to use at upgrade stations. In "SS2," there was a rogue artificial intelligence who synthesized a new form of life that called itself "The Many," and took over most of the ship from the crew and you woke up from cryo-sleep to find the place overrun by "hybrids." In "Bioshock," you get the same crazy "hybrids" but because of the fantastic underwater setting everything loses its creepiness. This game is like Spongebob with guns and rated PG-11.
The gameplay for this FPS really isn't that engaging. You spend your time at the start switching hands and taking turns at zapping the inhabitants to incapacitate them so you can bludgeon them to death with your wrench. They kept the story-like elements of its predecessor and there are audio logs you find which uncover the story as you go. There is also this strange guy who sends you radio transmissions telling you what to do but because the graphics are so spectacularly good compared to its predecessor based off a Windows 95/98 system, there is so much crap to look at you'll get lost inspecting all the nooks and crannies while making sure you get all the items in an area before moving on. The game starts to feel super slow almost immediately. Also, during said investigation random citizens or denizens or whatever will wander in and attack you and if you're not ready for them or the controls yet, they can hurt you pretty quick.
The one thing that I did like was the new hacking system. In "SS2" you just clicked on nodes and if they turned green and you made a long enough chain of them you would complete the hack. In this game, they flow water through pipes in real time and you have to connect the pipes and joints fast enough to the appointed spot on the grid. Sadly, I did find this puzzle to be almost more enjoyable than the game itself.
Two last comments I'll make here are about getting more "Adam" and the item purchasing vendors. Getting "Adam" seems to be really hard. In "SS2," all you had to do was listen and follow the instructions of some survivor of the ship that made contact with to try to wrest control back from "The Many." Here you have to get "Adam" from the little "sisters" and it is pretty challenging because they seem to always be protected by robotic minions that are very tough and beat you senseless.
This game also has nanite replicators but instead of the synthetic voice of "Xerxes," the "Van Braun's" AI, they are replaced by generic vendors with this crazy, talking clown. They are the funniest thing ever! Depending on their location, if one is nearby a "revival machine" you could end up repeating a tedious cycle of trying to get through an area only to be thrashed royally and having that stupid clown mouth off to you as you wake up inside. For the twenty bucks I spent on this title, I must say that it was well worth it only because those clowns provided me with some great laughs. That, and rearranging those tubes is incredibly fun. They should make a Windows game like Minesweeper off of that engine. It seriously is that much fun!!!
In summary, I guess I was expecting it to be too much like it's predecessor. That game was easily one of the best horror games and was like running a "Surrogate" through some crazy movie. The Biblical references in that game were beyond creepy and the voices of "The Many" are chilling. This game took the same ideas and just stuck it in a total fantasy world and it ends up feeling like some zainy, fun-house full of wierd carnival-like ambience.
If you want a fun game that will totally engross you despite it's age and lowsy graphics, buy "System Shock 2" instead of this nonsensical drivel. It's set in a traditional sci-fi world with an awesome story. The story alone is enough to get it. They need to make a movie of that game although "Pandorum" does seem to encapsulate much of it.
System Shock 2 Buy this instead. They should have remade it.Get more detail about BioShock.
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